Senator files resolution about Civil Rights Act

State Sen. Gerald Neal, a Louisville Democrat, filed a four-page resolution Friday aimed at reaffirming the Senate’s support for the Civil Rights Act and rejecting “any attempt to retreat from the guarantees provided” by it.

Neal’s resolution makes no direct references to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul but clearly hints at Paul’s comments questioning a provision in the 1964 legislation that made it illegal for private businesses to discriminate against customers based on their race.

“Whereas, suggestions have appeared recently that we retreat from the core values of the protection of equal rights of the citizens of the United States, the Senate of the General Assembly finds that these views are outside the mainstream of American values and are not supported by other than an extreme minority of persons in the United States,” the resolution said.

“The Senate of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky finds discrimination in any form to be inconsistent with American values,” the resolution said.